CHARLOTTESVILLE — Mike London told Tom O'Brien to choose the restaurant, always sage when you're on a sales call. True to form, O'Brien picked Napper Tandy's, the Irish pub a short walk from his downtown Raleigh condo.

O'Brien and his wife, Jennifer, listened as London pitched the benefits of O'Brien becoming his associate head football coach at Virginia. The families have known one another for decades — O'Brien recruited Mike's brother, Paul, to Virginia and hired Mike on his Boston College staff — but those ties and the lure of returning to Charlottesville weren't enough.

And with good reason. Only 10 days had passed since North Carolina State's Nov. 25 firing of O'Brien as head coach. Thirty-eight years in the business, the last 16 wearing the big whistle, and this was the first time O'Brien had been turfed, told he wasn't good enough.

So he told London no — several times. Wisely, London gave O'Brien the time and space he needed to process the sting of N.C. State, ponder the future and relax at his vacation home in Charleston, S.C.

O'Brien talked his family and to colleagues. He recalled many coaching friends who, after a year away, couldn't wait to get back in.

Between Christmas and New Year's, O'Brien concluded what Jennifer knew all along: Even at 64 and with financial security, he needed to work. He needed to coach.

"When you're used to 38 years, working 24/7, 365 days a year, and you're not doing it, there's a void," O'Brien said Friday as London's four new assistant coaches met media at John Paul Jones Arena.

Many have wondered how O'Brien, the head coach at N.C. State for six seasons and Boston College for 10, will transition back to an assistant's role — his official title is associate head coach for offense and tight ends coach. They wonder if London and/or offensive coordinator Bill Lazor will be concerned that O'Brien is angling for their job.

Those are fair questions, but they are asked by folks who don't know O'Brien, a former Marine who's as unpretentious as you'll find in the ego-driven coaching world.

"I don't want his job," O'Brien said of Lazor. "I don't intend to do his job. I'm here to help him in any way shape or form that he needs. After 38 years, I've learned a few things about this game of football and have a little bit of knowledge that maybe I can impart. I'm not going to stand up and beat on the table. It's his job to do."

O'Brien voiced similar sentiments about London.

"I don't want his job," O'Brien said. "I've had my run and I'm thankful for the opportunity. The more we talked, the more I thought I could be of some value to this staff and this school. …

"I ought be the best assistant there is here. I know what it's like to sit in the chair. I know the decision-making process, everything that goes into being a head coach. … I know the day-to-day-grind. If I can take some of that off of him, it will make us all better coaches."

O'Brien served as an assistant to George Welsh at Virginia from 1982-96 and was invaluable in building the program from scratch. He was 115-80 as a head coach, 8-2 in bowls.

London has been a head coach for five years, two at his alma mater, Richmond, where he won a national championship. His three seasons at Virginia have been mixed, an 8-5 mark in 2011 sandwiched by two 4-8s.

"There's the understanding I am the head football coach of this team," London said. "But there's also the understanding with the experience that you surround yourself with and the people you surround yourself with, that there are opportunities to gain some insight into some things that otherwise you wouldn't have.

"Tom is the associate head coach, the assistant head coach, whatever you want to call it, in terms of helping me and my own development."

There's no understating the family component here. The O'Briens raised their three children in Charlottesville, and Tom said many of the friends he and Jennifer met through Little League, school and church remain in town.

There was also the bait of returning to grass-roots coaching.

"You don't coach," O'Brien said of occupying the corner office. "You're involved in so many other things pulling at you. You're not in the meeting room, you're not on the field.

"You can go coach whoever you want, but it's not that daily, down-in-the-dirt coaching. That's something that I've missed, and this is an opportunity to go do it again."

A disappointing 7-5 exit notwithstanding, O'Brien said he was proud of his 40-35 N.C. State tenure. He cited improved academic performance, four bowl invitations in the last five years, a 5-1 record against North Carolina and upsets of ranked opponents such as Florida State.

"There's a lot of good things we did," O'Brien said. "It's a better program today than when I got there. I don't have any regrets. I don't feel bad. I accomplished a lot.

"Many people in this profession have called and expressed those feelings, and those are the only people that are really important to me because they know what it's like."

O'Brien's first day on the new job was Jan. 3, 31 years and one day after he first began working for the Cavaliers. London and Virginia are lucky to have him back.

David Teel can be reached at 757-247-4636 or by email at dteel@dailypress.com. For more from Teel, read his blog at dailypress.com/ teeltime and follow him at twitter.com/DavidTeelatDP

CHARLOTTESVILLE — In the days after he was fired as North Carolina State's associate head coach for defense and linebacker coach this past season, along with head coach Tom O'Brien, Jon Tenuta took stock of his own resume.

John Calipari has hair and does not chew on towels, and none of his players is likely to appear as Grandmama in a shoe company pitch. Otherwise, the parallels between Kentucky 2015 and Nevada-Las Vegas 1991 are striking.